Pottery from Dunwich, Suffolk (Site DUN137, DUN138, DUN139, DUN140)
Paul Blinkhorn
The pottery assemblage comprised 1,686 sherds with a total weight of 11,093g. The
estimated vessel equivalent (EVE), by summation of surviving rimsherd
circumference was 2.31. The majority of the assemblage is of medieval and postmedieval date, but earlier material in the form of a few sherds of prehistoric, RomanoBritish and Anglo-Saxon pottery was also present. The following pottery types were
noted:
F1:
F2:
F95:
F102:
F300:
F301:
F302:
F324:
F326:
F327:
F328:
F329:
F330:
F355:
F370:
F371:
F400:
F401:
F405:
F406:
F407:
F408:
F410:
F413:
F416:
Early/Middle Saxon Organic Hand-built Ware. 1 sherd, 7g, EVE = 0.06.
Early/Middle Saxon Sandy Hand-built Ware. 1 sherd, 5g, EVE 0.
Ipswich Ware, AD720-850 (Blinkhorn 2012) 1 sherd, 8g, EVE = 0.
Thetford-type ware, 10th – 12th century (Rogerson and Dallas 1984). 6 sherds, 23g,
EVE = 0.
Early Medieval Sandy Wares, 11th – 13th century. (eg. Jennings 1981). 495 sherds,
2694g, EVE = 0.68.
Hollesley Bay-type Ware, 12th – 15th century (McCarthy and Brooks 1988, 272). 571
sherds, 3592g, EVE = 0.68.
Shelly Sandy ware, mid 12th – 13th century (Blackmore and Pearce 2010). 1 sherd,
4g, EVE = 0.
Scarborough ware, 12th – 14th century (Farmer and Farmer 1982). 10 sherds, 31g,
EVE = 0.
London Ware, mid-12th – 14th century. (Pearce et al., 1985). 6 sherds, 42g, EVE =
0.
Hedingham-type Ware, late 12th – 14th century. (Cotter 2000). 16 sherds, 73g, EVE
= 0.05.
Grimston Ware, 13th – 15th century (Leah 1994). 6 sherds, 37g, EVE = 0.
Yarmouth-type glazed ware, 12th – 15th century (Mellor 1976). 27 sherds, 184g,
EVE = 0.11.
Mill Green Ware, late 13th – 14th century (Pearce et al. 1982). 3 sherds, 20g, EVE =
0.
Andenne Ware, 12th – 13th century (Vince 1985, 39-43). 1 sherd, 1g, EVE = 0.
Unprovenanced Glazed Ware, medieval sandy glazed ware of uncertain origin, 13th14th century?
Saintonge Monochrome ware, mid 13th – 15th century (Hurst et al. 1986, 76-8). 13
sherds, 35g, EVE = 0
Bourne ‘D’ Ware, c. 1450-1637 (McCarthy and Brooks 1988, 409). 1 sherd, 6g,
EVE = 0.
Late Medieval Transitional Ware, c 1400 – 1600 (Anderson et al., 1996). 119
sherds, 1171g, EVE = 0.35.
Raeren/Aachen Stoneware, late 15th – mid 16th century Gaimster 1997). 12 sherds,
99g, EVE = 0.
Low Countries Redware, 15th – 17th century (Hurst et al. 1986, 130). 11 sherds, 54g,
EVE = 0.08.
Frechen/Cologne Stoneware, mid 16th - 17th century (Gaimster 1997). 15 sherds,
112g.
Martincamp-type ware, AD1475-1550 (Ickowicz 1993). 1 sherd, 12g.
Anglo-Dutch Tin-glazed Earthenware, 17th – early 18th century (Orton 1988). 4
sherds, 5g.
Cologne/Westerwald Stoneware, 17th century+ (Gaimster 1997). 7 sherd, 26g.
Staffordshire Slipware. AD1640-1750. 2 sherds, 11g.
F425: Glazed Red Earthenware, 16th – 19th century. (Wade-Martins, 1983). 178 sherds,
1677g.
F433: Staffordshire White Salt-Glazed Stoneware, AD1720-1780 (Mountford .1971).
11 sherds, 29g.
F438: English Stoneware, 1680+. (Mountford 1971). 16 sherds, 194g.
F451: Border Ware, mid 16th – mid 18th century (Pearce 1988). 8 sherds, 23g.
F1000: Miscellaneous 19th and 20th century wares. 137 sherds, 809g.
F1002: All Bronze Age. 2 sherds, 19g.
F1003: All Iron Age. 1 sherd, 2g.
The pottery occurrence by number and weight of sherds per context by fabric type is
shown in Tables 1-6.
Trench 1 (DUN137)
The pottery assemblage from Trench 1 comprised 91 sherds with a total weight of
757g. The estimated vessel equivalent (EVE), by summation of surviving rimsherd
circumference was 0. The pottery occurrence by number and weight of sherds per
context by fabric type is shown in Table 1. Much of the pottery from this trench was
residual, including all the medieval material, with single sherds of Bronze Age, Iron
Age, and early middle Anglo-Saxon hand-built pottery also present. All the contexts
were post-medieval, and most of them modern. In all, over 40% (by weight) of the
pottery from the trench is residual. The medieval assemblage was quite small and
fragmented (mean sherd weight = 6.6g), as perhaps would be expected from a residual
group, and comprised entirely bodysherds. Few re-fits were made, indicating that
most, if not all the pottery is the result of secondary deposition, and was originally
deposited in field soils or the like, suggesting that this area of Dunwich was somewhat
marginal in the medieval period. The relatively small assemblages of late medieval
pottery also suggest that activity had dropped off somewhat in the 15 th and 16th
centuries.
Trench 2 (DUN138)
The pottery assemblage from Trench 2 comprised 69 sherds with a total weight of
410g. The estimated vessel equivalent (EVE), by summation of surviving rimsherd
circumference was 0. The pottery occurrence by number and weight of sherds per
context by fabric type is shown in Table 2. Just two contexts produced pottery, with
the bulk of the material occurring in the modern topsoil. Context 201 produced only
pottery of the 13th century date, main local unglazed wares, although a few glazed jug
sherds were present. The only feature sherds were two jar rims.
The mean sherd weight for the medieval material from 201 was once again very small
(5.8g), indicating that the group is the product of secondary deposition, and probably
a manuring scatter in a field-soil.
Trench 3 (DUN139)
The pottery assemblage from Trench 3 comprised 1000 sherds with a total weight of
5718g. The estimated vessel equivalent (EVE), by summation of surviving rimsherd
circumference was 1.29. The pottery occurrence by number and weight of sherds per
context by fabric type is shown in Tables 3 and 4. The entire assemblage was of
medieval or later date, other than a residual sherd of Bronze Age material and another
of early/middle Saxon hand-built ware. The range of pottery types shows that the site
was in use for most of the medieval period, and certainly from the 12th century
onwards. Once again, however, the mean sherd weight is very low (5.7g), suggesting
that much of the pottery was the product of secondary deposition.
The earlier medieval groups, of the 12th – 14th century, largely consist of highly
fragmented groups (mean sherd weight = 5.7g), mainly comprising fragments of
unglazed jars, along with a few small sherds of glazed jugs from a number of British
and continental sources. It all appears to be the product of secondary deposition.
The later medieval groups, although containing a few larger sherds, was still quite
fragmented (mean sherd weight = 6.5g), and is also largely the product of secondary
deposition. It also appears that most of the stratified late medieval pottery does not
date to very much after the late 15th century. Late Medieval Transitional Wares (fabric
F401) and Raeren-type Stonewares (F405) are quite sparse in the late medieval
groups, despite usually being very common in later medieval pottery assemblages at
contemporary sites in the region, with numerous manufactories of the former in
Suffolk, such as at Halesworth, some 10km to the north-west of Dunwich (Fordham
2005, 26). The groups are instead dominated by unglazed Hollesley Bay-type Wares,
and ‘developed’ late medieval vessel forms, such as dripping dishes and cisterns, are
entirely absent, with all the pottery from this trench comprising fragments of jars,
bowls and jugs, other than a single pipkin handle and a small fragment from the rim
of a Low Countries Grape, or cooking-pot. This is, in the main, more typical of 13th –
14th century assemblages than those of the 15th – 16th century, and suggests that much
of the pottery from these late medieval groups is residual, or that at least some of the
larger groups had pottery added to them over a long period of time.
Other than a small mid-16th century group, from context 311, all the post-medieval
groups date to the early 18th century at the earliest. These early modern and modern
assemblages, mainly from soils, contain fairly large quantities of residual medieval
pottery, indicating that there was considerable disturbance of earlier strata at those
times, presumably due to agriculture. It is worthy of note that these groups, even
though they contain large quantities of redeposited pottery, have a comparable mean
sherd weight (5.4g) with the stratified material, stressing the very secondary nature of
the apparently stratified medieval groups. Late Medieval Transitional Wares are
present, but the sherds are small, and the material is far less well-represented than
earlier material, and ‘developed’ vessel forms are absent, suggesting once again a
drop-off in activity in the later 15th century.
Trench 4 (DUN140)
The pottery assemblage from Trench 4 comprised 526 sherds with a total weight of
4208g. The estimated vessel equivalent (EVE), by summation of surviving rimsherd
circumference was 0.97. The pottery occurrence by number and weight of sherds per
context by fabric type is shown in Tables 5 and 6. The assemblage is broadly of a
similar character to that from Trench 3, consisting of fairly large quantities of
fragmented 12th – 14th century material, a sparse late medieval group, and then
modern groups with a fairly high proportion of redeposited medieval wares.
The 12th – 14th century assemblages again comprise largely unglazed wares with a
few fragments of glazed jugs, with a fairly low overall mean sherd weight of 8.0g,
although this is actually lower than that of the residual medieval material, which had a
mean weight of 8.5g, showing that all the stratified material is the product of
secondary deposition. All the rimsherds were from jars, bowls and jugs, with
‘developed’ late medieval vessel forms again entirely absent from the 15th century and
later groups.
Overview
The range of fabric types is fairly typical of large sites on the East Anglian coast (eg.
Clarke and Carter 1977), and includes a wide range of imported wares from France,
Germany, and the Low Countries, and underlines Dunwich’s importance as an
international port in the medieval period. The English pottery also comes from a wide
range of sources, including the London area, Essex, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire.
The pottery from Trenches 1 and 2 all occurred in post-medieval and early modern
deposits, other than one small 13th century group, with much of it consisting of
residual medieval material, the bulk of which dated to the 12th – 14th centuries. The
assemblages from trenches 3 and 4 shows the same basic character, ie, fairly large
groups of 12th – 14th century material, with smaller amounts of late medieval wares,
with a lack of ‘developed’ vessel forms and a paucity of Raeren-type Stonewares,
usually a fairly common find at East Coast ports (eg. Cotter 2000, Fig. 191)
suggesting that pottery deposition did not continue very much beyond the late-15th
century, a pattern also suggested by the residual material in Trenches 1 and 2. All the
groups consisted of small sherds with few re-fits, and large amounts of residual
medieval material were present in the early modern soil horizons, indicating that there
was fairly considerable disturbance of earlier strata at that time, although the residual
pottery shows the same general pattern as the stratified groups, including sherd size,
indicating very strongly that the vast majority of the stratified pottery is the product of
secondary deposition.
It would appear therefore that most of the deposits in the excavated trenches are
somewhat marginal, and comprise field soils and the like to which pottery was added
to over a considerable period of time, probably as manure and “night soil”, from the
12th – late 15th centuries, with modern agriculture disturbing and mixing material from
earlier strata. Certainly, groups comprising large sherds and well-represented vessels,
typical of primary deposits and domestic middens, are more or less entirely absent. It
is worthy of note that the pottery profiles from the test-pits (see Section X), showed a
very similar to this, ie, large amounts of 12th – 14th century material, followed by a
rapid drop-off in the later medieval period, and very little activity between the 16 th
and early 18th centuries. This all generally reflects reasonably well the known history
of Dunwich, which was a thriving port during the 12th – 14th centuries, until a series of
storms and the movement of the river led to it being reduced to one-quarter of its
maximum medieval population by the beginning of the 17th century (Comfort 1994).
Bibliography
Anderson, S, Breen, A, Caruth, J and Gill, D, 1996, The late medieval pottery industry on the North
Suffolk border, Medieval Ceramics 20
Blackmore, L, and Pearce, J, 2010 A dated type-series of London medieval pottery: part 5. Shellysandy ware and the greyware industries
MOLA Monograph 49
Blinkhorn, P, 2012
The Ipswich ware project: Ceramics, trade and society in Middle Saxon
England Medieval Pottery Research Group Occasional Paper 7
Clarke, H, and Carter, A, 1977
Archaeology Monograph Series 7
Excavations in King's Lynn, 1963-1970
Society Medieval
Comfort, N, 1994 The Lost City of Dunwich Dalton
Farmer PG and Farmer, NC, 1982 The Dating of the Scarborough Ware Pottery Industry Medieval
Ceramics 6, 66-86
Fordham, M, 2005
The Economic & Social History of Halesworth 720 AD - 1902 AD
Halesworth & District Museum
Gaimster, D, 1997
German Stoneware
British Museum Publications
Hurst, JG, Neal DS and Van Beuningen, HJE, 1986 Pottery Produced and Traded in North-West
Europe 1350 – 1650 Rotterdam Papers 6
Ickowicz, P, 1993
17, 51-60
Martincamp Ware: A Problem of Attribution
Medieval
Ceramics
Jennings, S, 1981 Eighteen Centuries of Pottery from Norwich. East Anglian Archaeology Report 13
Leah, M, 1994, The Late Saxon and Medieval Pottery Industry of Grimston, Norfolk: Excavations
1962-92. East Anglian Archaeology Report 64
McCarthy, MR and Brooks, CM, 1988 Medieval Pottery in Britain AD900-1600 Leicester University
Press
Mellor, M, 1976 The Pottery in A Rogerson
Excavations on Fuller’s Hill, Great Yarmouth
East Anglian Archaeology Report 2, 169-96
Mountford, AR, 1971
Jenkins, London
The Illustrated Guide to Staffordshire Salt-Glazed Stoneware Barrie
and
Orton, C, 1988 Post-Roman Pottery in P Hinton (ed.) Excavations in Southwark 1973-76 and
Lambeth !973-79. MoLAS and DGLA Joint Publication 3, 295-364
Pearce, J, 1988
Border Wares HMSO
Pearce, JE, Vince, AG and Jenner, MA, 1985
A Dated Type-Series of London Medieval Pottery
Part 2: London-type Ware LAMAS Special Paper 6
Pearce, JE, Vince AG, White R with Cunningham, C, 1982
A Dated Type Series of London
Medieval Pottery Part One: Mill Green Ware
Transactions London & Middlesex Archaeology
Society 33, 266-98
Rogerson, A, and Dallas, C, 1984 Excavations in Thetford 1948-59 and 1973-80. East Anglian
Archaeology Report 22
Vince, AG, 1985 The Saxon and Medieval Pottery of London: A review
29, 25-93
Wade-Martins, P, 1983
Fakenham, Norfolk
Medieval Archaeology
Two post-medieval earthenware pottery groups from Fulmedeston near
East Anglian Archaeology Report 19
Table 1: Pottery occurrence by number and weight (in g) of sherds per context by fabric type, Trench 1
Tr
1
1
1
1
Cntxt
102
105
107
108
Total
BA
No Wt
1
1
17
17
IA
No
1
1
Wt
2
2
E/MS
No Wt
1
1
5
5
F300
No Wt
1
3
1
F301
No Wt
9
1
2
12
3
26
12
40
78
F328
No Wt
1
1
6
6
F401
No Wt
3
24
3
24
F405
No Wt
1
7
1
F425
No Wt
12 112
4
1
17
7
28
4
144
F438
No Wt
1
27
1
27
F1000
No Wt
11 190
7
11
18
201
Table 2: Pottery occurrence by number and weight (in g) of sherds per context by fabric type, Trench 2
Tr
2
2
Cntxt
200
201
Total
F301
No Wt
28 143
19 111
47 254
F326
No Wt
1
1
13
13
F327
No Wt
2
2
4
4
F329
No Wt
1
5
1
5
F405
No Wt
1
7
1
7
F407
No Wt
1
43
1
43
F425
No Wt
3
14
3
14
F438
No Wt
1
26
1
26
F1000
No Wt
12 44
12
44
Date
MOD
13thC
Date
MOD
MOD
MOD
M16thC
Table 3: Pottery occurrence by number and weight (in g) of sherds per context by fabric type, medieval contexts, Trench 3
Tr
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
Cntxt
304
305
306
307
308
309*
313**
314
316
317
318
Total
F102
No Wt
1
4
F300
No
Wt
54
264
8
37
44
172
42
354
2
3
9
33
14
172
F301
No
Wt
11
85
198 1314
2
14
2
50
14
42
7
20
4
14
13
52
81
282
15
62
26
109
2
14
1
6
3
9
5
18 190 1111 358 1983
* + 1 sherd (2g), Bronze Age
** + 1 sherd, 72g, E/MS
F302
No Wt
1
F324
No Wt
4
1
11
F327
No Wt
3
9
3
18
F328
No Wt
2
1
3
1
4
4
F355
No Wt
F370
No Wt
2
33
F371
No Wt
1
9
1
1
6
1
7
F330
No Wt
6
5
16
F329
No Wt
2
11
7
61
2
3
8
1
6
1
1
11
1
1
79
1
F406
No Wt
1
1
4
18
F405
No Wt
2
43
1
1
16
18
1
F401
No Wt
4
7
11 149
2
28
1
2
16
7
13
6
29
1
2
18
186
3
44
1
5
1
5
Table 4: Pottery occurrence by number and weight (in g) of sherds per context by fabric type, post-medieval contexts, Trench 3
Tr
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
Cntxt
0
300
301
302
303
311
312
Total
Resid Med
No
Wt
7
37
25
90
3
20
62 326
48 248
4
24
16
74
165 819
F401
No Wt
2
13
10 73
4
22
23 61
15 78
54
247
F405
No Wt
2
6
2
6
F406
No Wt
2
2
3
1
8
10
5
28
1
44
F407
No Wt
2
1
4
2
1
6
14
8
16
3
10
47
F408
No Wt
1
1
F410
No Wt
F413
No Wt
1
4
2
3
10
10
3
1
4
1
4
5
3
7
F425
No Wt
1
5
13 144
12 129
31 233
18 156
1
21
76
688
F451
No Wt
2
1
3
6
1
7
F438
No Wt
2
2
1
11
9
3
5
23
F433
No Wt
2
3
1
6
9
2
6
17
F1000
No Wt
1
2
27 69
5
14
13 80
3
49
8
173
Date
U/S
MOD
MOD
MOD
E18thC
M16thC
MOD
Date
L15thC
L15thC
15thC
13thC
12thC
12thC
15thC
M13thC
12thC
15thC
12thC
Table 5: Pottery occurrence by number and weight (in g) of sherds per context by fabric type, medieval contexts, Trench 4
Tr
4
4
4
4
4
4
Cntxt
409B
411A
414A
418B
421B
423B
Total
F95
No Wt
1
F102
No Wt
8
1
1
8
5
1
F300
No
Wt
119 548
51
181
32
5
202
F301
No Wt
1
6
25
51
34
3
44
382
68
526
F324
No Wt
1
1
3
4
F326
No Wt
2
F328
No Wt
12
F329
No Wt
1
12
4
17
1
10
F330
No Wt
1
1
F371
No Wt
2
8
1
1
2
2
F401
No Wt
11 405
1
1
12
406
F405
No Wt
1
3
F406
No Wt
1
4
359
1088
1
8
5
13
2
12
2
23
3
27
2
23
9
66
1
1
5
11
1
3
1
Date
L15thC
L13thC
15thC
12thC
13thC
12thC
4
Table 6: Pottery occurrence by number and weight (in g) of sherds per context by fabric type, post-medieval contexts, Trench 4
Tr
4
4
4
4
Cntxt
408
409A
413A
413B
Total
Resid Med
No
Wt
20 239
24 164
2
16
9
47
55 466
F400
No Wt
1
1
6
6
F401
No Wt
4
44
10 58
3 138
9
44
26 284
F405
No Wt
3
16
1
16
F406
No Wt
1
4
32
1
F407
No Wt
2
6
F413
No Wt
F416
No Wt
1
7
1
1
2
6
3
3
17
17
1
7
F425
No Wt
24 299
5
30
15 188
11 97
55 614
F451
No Wt
1
3
2
1
4
4
6
13
F438
No Wt
6
87
2
1
9
29
2
118
F433
No Wt
1
3
1
2
4
2
2
7
F1000
No Wt
27 289
1
1
7
10
35
300
Date
MOD
MOD
MOD
E18thC